The working group balloting process is the means by which we build consensus and improve the quality of our draft standards.
The ballot process begins with an initial ballot. The ballot group is established at this time and consist of the voting membership of 802.11 at the time the initial ballot is started. The ballot group remains constant for the duration of the ballot series. The entire draft is open to comment during the initial ballot. An initial ballot must pass with greater than 75% approval (and meet other criteria) before it proceeds to recircuation ballot. A draft might require more than one initial ballot before it reaches this threshold.
With recirculation ballots the objective is to iteratively narrow the scope of the changes being made. Valid comments are limited to those that identify problems with text that has changed or is affected by text that is changed. The task group may (at its descretion) address out of scope comments, but the primary objective here is to covert as many Disapprove votes to Approve votes as possible by addressing the comments associated with those Disapprove votes. It is typically not possible to covert all Disapprove votes to Approve votes.
Members that are not in the ballot group may vote and submit comments on the draft. However, their vote will not count toward the ballot results. Their comments will be considered by the task group, but the group is under no obligation to address them.
Select the button. This will take you to the ePoll page for this ballot.
If prompted, enter your IEEE account credentials. You won't be prompted if you have already logged in to mentor, e.g., to access the 802.11 documents.
On the vote page:
You will receive an email notifying you of your vote. You can also check the last vote recorded by revisiting the voting page.
See ePoll User Guide 5.1
If you wish to enter comments, you should vote Approve or Disapprove.
Once you have voted, the links "Add comment" and "Upload comments" will appear on the voting page.
Select the "Add comment" link from the voting page.
Enter values for the fields. See the "Writing Comments" tab above for details on how to write a comment.
Select "OK" to save the comment.
See ePoll User Guide 5.2
Download the template spreadsheet.
Add comments to the spreadsheet, one per row. See the "Writing Comments" tab above for details on how to write a comment.
Select the "Upload comments" link from the voting page.
Select the spreadsheet file you have created.
The system will not let you upload comments that do not meet the requirements described in the "Writing Comments" tab above.
See ePoll User Guide 5.3
NOTE: While the ballot is still open, you can return to the ePoll ballot page to modify your vote, add additional comments or edit your comments. To return to the ePoll ballot page select the button.
Submit individual comments through the web interface or upload multiple comments using the spreadsheet template. For each comment, provide the following information.
Comment
Describe the problem.
Category
Select one of: Technical, Editorial or General.
If you are using a comment spreadsheet, be sure to use the full word. The system will reject a spreadsheet where this column does not contain one of these terms.
Page / Line
Number
If you choose to include a page / line number reference in your comments, please do so by entering a non-negative integer in these columns (or roman numeral page number). Be sure to quote the page number at the bottom of the page in the clean draft, not the redline document, as they will be different.
Subclause
Include the number of the subclause heading to which your comment applies (e.g., 5, 2.1, 4.2.3., C, C.3, 8.2a.4b). If you have a comment that applies to the entire document put "General" in this field. Don't put "all", "many", "various" or any other word you may personally fancy. If the field contains anything other that a (sub)clause number or "General", the comment may be rejected (insufficient detail). If your comment relates to a table or figure, use the number of the subclause in which the table or figure resides. Put only the number and not additional words such as "clause" or "annex".
Proposed Change
Describe how to correct the problem.
Keep the proposed change separate from the comment.
Remember that the operating rules state that a "Disapprove" vote MUST be accompanied by comments which include specific reasons and enough information for the group to understand what you desire in order to change your "Disapprove" vote to an "Approve" vote. If your proposed change does not include sufficient detail to guide the group in a direction that will satisfy you, then your comment will likely be rejected.
Must Be Satisfied
This field appears on the web interface only if you have voted "Disapprove". It is always present in the spreadsheet.
This field indicates whether the comment must be satisfied in order for you to change your vote to "Approve".
Any voter that votes "Disapprove" must have at least one comment marked "must be satisfied=yes" to support for their "Disapprove" vote. This field must not be left blank for any comment accompanying a "Disapprove" vote, as the intent of the voter regarding this comment would be ambiguous.
Use only "Yes" or "No" in this column; any other value will prevent the system accepting your upload.
NOTE: The redline document (if present) shows the differences between the balloted draft and the previously balloted draft. Due to limitations of the tools used to produce the redline, this version of the draft may contain artifacts arising from the comparison process. Always check the clean version before reporting a problem found in a redline document. Always report the page and line numbers from the clean draft.